1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device which is employed in electronic circuits of various technical fields including office automation apparatuses, electrical devices of private use, such as facsimile machines, printers and video cameras, as well as automobiles, power plants and space satellites. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device which is suitable for use in a semiconductor memory for storing necessary data signals.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a semiconductor memory device (a semiconductor memory) which can be programmed once. The memory cell of this semiconductor memory device is made up of a MOS field effect transistor (hereinafter referred to as a `MOSFET`) which is an insulated-gate field effect transistor, and an insulating film.
Such a memory has been described in, for example, "A new Programmable Cell Utilizing Insulator Breakdown" IEDM' 85, pp 639 through 642.
Another type of semiconductor memory is shown in FIG. 2.
In FIG. 2 which is a cross-sectional view thereof, reference numeral 120 denotes a n type substrate; 121, a p.sup.+ drain; 122, a p.sup.+ source; 123, a floating gate; 124, an insulating layer; 125, a drain interconnection; and 126, a source interconnection. The floating gate 123 is manufactured by embedding, for example, a polysilicon into a silicon oxide. Normally, no current flows between the source and the drain. When a high voltage is applied between the source and drain of this transistor, avalanche breakdown occurs in the pn junction on the side of the drain, injecting electrons of a high energy level to the floating gate and thus permitting current to be established between the source and drain, by which writing can be performed on the memory. When this device is used as a memory, injection and non-injection of electrons to the floating gate are made to correspond to 1 and 0 of data, respectively. However, in the above-described memory, since a slight amount of electric charges stored in the floating gate leaks, permanent storage of data is impossible, and the reading characteristics vary with time. Furthermore, the aforementioned MOSFET is not suited to the fine processing, and is characterized by a low mutual conductance (gm characteristics).
Furthermore, when the gate length is 0.5 .mu.m or less, improvement in the aforementioned MOSFET based on the scaling rule cannot be expected.
Apart from the above-mentioned semiconductor device, a SOI type MOSFET has also been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-14578). In this semiconductor device, a SiO.sub.2 layer is provided on a Si substrate, and a Si mesa structure is provided on the SiO.sub.2 layer. A gate oxide film is provided on the side wall of the mesa structure. FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate such a device. In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 232 denotes an insulating film; 231', a crystalline silicon; 236, a source region; 237, a drain region; and 235, a gate electrode which bridges a channel region of the crystalline Si portion. FIG. 3 is a section taken along a line a-a' of FIG. 4.
As shown in FIG. 3, upper three surfaces of the crystalline Si 231' portion are covered with the gate electrode 235 through the gate oxide film 234, while a lower surface 238 thereof is in contact with the surface of the insulating film 232. The dimensions of the crystalline Si portion satisfy W.sub.0 &lt;2W.sub.H. Thus, the channel of the side wall is increased, thus increasing the channel conductance.
A MOSFET which is similar to the above-mentioned one in terms of the structure has also been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-263473). FIG. 5 is a plan view of this MOSFET. FIG. 6 is a section taken along a line A- A' of FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a section taken along a line B-B' of FIG. 5. A crystalline Si layer 246 forms a source 243, a drain 242 and a channel. The portion of the crystalline Si layer 246 which is covered by a gate electrode 245 forms a channel region connected to a substrate 240 via an opening 247. The drain layer 242 is connected to the substrate 240 through the crystalline Si layer 246 via an opening 248.
The above-described conventional structures are characterized in an increased leaking current of the transistor, variations in the transistor and degraded OFF characteristics and hence unstable operation of the transistor. First, why off characteristics of the SOI type MOSFET are degraded will be explained. The present inventors consider that it is because the Si region which forms the channel is covered with a SiO.sub.2 except for the interfaces between the source and drain and the Si region. That is, the Si region which forms the channel portion is made completely floating, and the potential thereof cannot be fixed, making the operation unstable. Furthermore, the carriers (electrons in the case of, for example, a p type MOSFET) generated in the Si region when the transistor is in an On state stop flowing when the transistor is turned OFF, and remain in the Si region until they recombine with holes and disappear, thus deteriorating the OFF characteristics of the transistor. In the aforementioned conventional transistors, a large amount of current leaks because the channel region surrounded by the gate electrode is in direct contact with the insulating layer which is the substrate. That is, the channel region is made in a completely depleted state when the transistor is turned on, and the resultant depletion layer reaches the interface between the channel region and the insulating layer and generates a large amount of recombination current by the defects present in the interface.